Spain's El Clasico is Sunday: Real Madrid against Barcelona in the Spanish capital. Can Cristiano Ronaldoknock out Lionel Messi? Fans around the globe will flock to screens to see who owns the punch.

In the past 10 years, stamp the contest for the Spanish football crown as exclusive. Barca or Real is dominant. Spain's other clubs spar beneath the heavyweights, unable to get a shot at the title. This year is different. Another Madrid team, Atletico, is in the ring fighting for first, a rogue upsetting the balance. Mark the card for relief.

Europe's elite club soccer is an oligopoly's dream. A few sellers of football dominate the market forever and ever, amen. Occasionally, the odd upstart clambers up from below, prompting the superiors to purchase its valuable playing assets, snuffing out the threat for next season. Arrivistes can stick around if they can tap lines of credit from oligarchs, billionaires, sports magnates or oil wells.

In the lower divisions, teams struggle. But few die. There are always business interests willing to invest in the promise of miracles. Who knows? Perhaps a young player comes out of the sticks, leads the team to glory and then gets sold for a healthy profit.

Soccer's structure provides incentive. Interleague relegation and promotion, the trapdoor and the elevator, are integral to hope and fear for fans and money alike. See it as a free-market fight for a seat at the top table where the big boys eat. "Best to throw a crumb to the up and coming," the portly say. After all, they need teams to play and beat every week. (Note: Major League Soccer is a single entity without promotion and relegation.)

Soccer powers are global. On the TV news, witness riots in various countries and you might see a Molotov cocktail being thrown by a rebel wearing a Barca or Real jersey. The game's economy is also local, where the roots run deep. An English Twitter feed, Football Away Days, posts photographs of traveling supporters often in half-empty stadiums, wearing jerseys of teams that will not be appearing in the middle of a televised revolution in a febrile part of the world. These fans follow clubs that will win nothing, one generation passing down emptiness to the next. Call it loyalty to the local, the small-town economy keeping football alive beneath the elites.

Rallying the Quakes: Many witnessed the super performance of the Earthquakes on Saturday in their opening game of the MLS season against Salt Lake. Marvel at it. The Quakes fought back from 3-1 down and scored the equalizer in the 95th minute. The Earthquakes have 17 second-half stoppage-time goals in all competitions since 2012, 15 of which tied or won the game. Defy the laws of football math!

I watched the game standing in Section 109 at Buck Shaw Stadium, the manor of the 1906 Ultras, the Quakes' supporters group. Their rallying call ceaseless, a magnet, they pulled in the Quakes' attack like a tide. The players love it. You can see how much it means to them to score at the Ultras' end. It's pretty special. When the tying goal went in, the Ultras exploded behind the net. Proof that when the support is fierce and close to the action, the fans influence the result.

The Quakes would do well to integrate the Ultras into the plans at the new stadium - as close to the action as possible. Polish the 12th man cliche. At San Jose, it delivers wins.